After the entire team dropped the flag Wednesday and pretty much left the ice and let the Red Wings have shooting practice, the Blue Jackets top line came out and reclaimed the flag. Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius scored both in regulation and also in the shootout to give the CBJ a much needed 2 points.

Huselius was making his re-entry into the lineup after a trip to the I.R. and probably played his best game of the season. He also had the first assist on the Rick Nash goal that knotted up the score late in the 1st period.

Nash received the outlet pass and it gave him a clear path to the net and in a little bit of a surprising move, Nash unloaded a huge slap shot from the left circle. Usually the raging bull will barrel toward the net with horns down and then make a nifty move that leaves goaltenders shaking their heads. Not this time. Nash packed his rifle with a ton of gun powder and absolutely blistered it by Jean-Sebastien Giguere.



Nash and Huselius got the goals but the player that stirred the drink to allow the top line to be so dominant against the Ducks was Antoine Vermette. He got assists on both goals and his one to Huselius on the power play was an absolute thing of beauty.



Vermette's trade continues to become bigger and bigger as Derick Brassard has not progressed as planned and Vermette has slid right in and performed well. His speed is giving other teams fits and opening up opportunities for Nash and either Huselius or RJ Umberger.

Speaking of Brassard, he is really struggling. It looks like he is gripping the stick a little too tight and really wanting to make something happen. Instead, he is hurting the team with his play. Nothing more glaring than when Brassard tried to wiggle waggle through the neutral zone and through 4 Ducks, turns it over and then former Jacket Todd Marchant gets a beautiful scoring chance and converted.



Garon Challenging for Top Billing

If your a normal reader of my stuff, you know that I have been impressed with Mathieu Garon's play since pre-season and not as much with Steve Mason's. Garon continues to perform and now Head Coach Ken Hitchcock is starting to think about the unthinkable coming into this year.

When Hitchcock was asked if Mason would get the net as he said he would earlier in the day for the Calgary game on Monday, Hitchcock responded with, "I don't know, we play Monday. I'll let you know Monday."

Sometimes numbers can lie but with goaltenders, most the time they will tell the tale. Garon is 3-1-0 with a 2.60 goal against average, .923 save percentage and a shut out. Mason on the other hand is 7-5-2 with a 3.67 goals against average, .879 save percentage and forget about a shut out. That's over a goal a game more that Mason is giving up and don't just say it's because of the Detroit game as the spread has been close to that all season. For whatever reason, Mason isn't as sharp as he is last year.

My guess is that he got too comfortable that the net is his no matter what and this goes back to the off season. Now he is trying to recover and also in statement, whether true or not, he is looking away from himself for the blame instead of last year where he took on the responsibility for given up goals. Hitchcock is none to happy with this new attitude and let it be known when he got wind of how Mason said he only gave up 1 softy out of 8 against Detroit, ""I'd like my goalie to think he could stop every shot," Hitchcock said in the Dispatch.

Nothing shows better how confident and that Garon thinks he can stop anything than in the shootout. Garon is now 17-4 in shootout situations. When asked why he is so good, Garon said, "I'm not asking any questions." He also went on to say is that, "I'm not here for ice time, I'm here to win hockey games."

Also, a lot of players said that Garon's amazing glove save in the 2nd was the turning point in the game. Players may now have more confidence in Garon than Mason which is a statement that would be considered ridiculous before the season, now it doesn't seem so crazy.



Game Notes and Quotes

15,577 was the Attendance

* The Blue Jackets scored on the power play tonight to snap a three-game skid where the club was held without a power play goal
o Columbus was 0-for-7 in the previous three games; the club has power play goals in 12-of-18 games this season



Blue Jackets Player Notes

* RW Rick Nash scored his 13th goal of the season and now has goals in three-straight games
o He has goals in six of the past seven and has registered at least a point in 14-of-18 games this season
o He has collected 7-2-9 the past seven games and entered the night tied for third in goals and points
o In 25 career games against Anaheim, he has registered 11-13-24
* LW Kristian Huselius returned to the lineup tonight after missing the previous four games due to injury and recorded his third multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist and also scored the game-winning shootout goal
o The points snapped a three-game pointless skid and pushed his season totals to 6-5-11 in 14 games
o It was his first multi-point outing since registering two goals Oct. 22 at Edmonton
* C Antoine Vermette recorded his 10th and 11th assists of the season and snapped a five-game pointless skid tonight
o In 35 career games with the Blue Jackets he has 10-17-27
* D Anton Stralman had an assist tonight, his eighth of the campaign
o He has assists in four of the past six games and has tallied 1-8-9 in 16 games this season

Blue Jackets Head Coach Ken Hitchcock



Commenting on the team’s play …

“We rebounded right away (from the Detroit game). We played hard and determined. We made some mistakes, but for whatever reason we got rid of it 10 minutes into the game. The last 10 minutes of the first period made me very comfortable. When we play smart and off the net more, we’re really effective.”



On the game tonight…

“We competed really hard (tonight). It was a big time game, we worked a lot harder, and the level of determination was 10 times better than it was against Detroit. We checked harder and we were more competitive on the boards. We started to come on late in the first and in the second.”



On the play of center Antoine Vermette…

“This was Vermette’s best game of the season for me. He was outstanding tonight.”



On the return of left wing Kristian Huselius…

“He gives you speed and skill and patience with the puck He did a lot for (the first) line.”



Commenting on the play of goaltender Mathieu Garon…

“He made two big saves in the second period and then made a great toe save in the third period.”



“That (glove) save was huge for us (in the second period).”





Columbus Blue Jackets Player Quotes

Blue Jackets Goaltender Mathieu Garon

Commenting on tonight’s game…

“Well, I think that’s what we needed, as a team we worked hard, we dominated and we wanted to get back on track and that’s what we did tonight.”



Commenting on tonight’s game…

“Yeah we did a good job, we killed a lot of penalties during the game and the overtime too. I think it’s where we were successful at the beginning of the season and tonight we really made a difference in that.”





Blue Jackets Center R.J. Umberger

Commenting on Wednesday’s game vs. Detroit…

“I think we kind of knew that it was a bizarre game for us. That’s not the team we were, we’re better than that. We can’t let our confidence get down, we would’ve not had a good performance tonight. We had to put it behind us.”



Blue Jackets Left Wing Kristian Huselius

Commenting on tonight’s game…

“I liked the way we got back into the game and we were forechecking at all lengths and we turned it around.”



Commenting on tonight’s game…

“It was nice puck movement there on the power-play, and I just got a nice pass by Vermette and was able to put it in. Matt (Blue Jackets goaltender Mathieu Garon) played unbelievable. He made some key saves and he kept us in the game there for awhile and you know it was huge.”



Anaheim Ducks Quotes



Anaheim Ducks Head Coach Randy Carlyle

Commenting on tonight’s game…

“We are desperate for a win on the road. I didn’t think we played that poor a hockey game. We missed a chance in overtime when we had the four-on-three. We didn’t really create much from it. But we will take the point and move on. It’s not easy to win on the road, we had our chance.”



Commenting on the play of Jean-Sebastien Giguere…

“I thought he looked fine, he gave us a chance.”



Anaheim Ducks Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Commenting on tonight’s game…

“It felt good to play a game. It’s been awhile. I think overall I felt good, I was seeing the puck well. I thought overall we had a pretty good game. It’s a big point on the road; obviously we would have liked two points. They had a pretty bad game their last game and they were looking to bounce back from that.”



Commenting on the shootout…

“It’s not ideal. I have not had much of a chance to practice my shootout very much since the beginning of the year. It’s part of the game and you have to try and do your best in those situations.”



Anaheim Ducks Center Ryan Getzlaf

Commenting on tonight’s game…

“We did a good job staying in this hockey game. We were right there and had our chances. Unfortunately it didn’t come out the way we wanted it to.”



Commenting on getting one point…

“It’s good, but it depends on what happens the rest of the trip. Anytime you get a point you have to be somewhat happy with it. We have to work hard tomorrow night and if we can get two of three (points) that will be a successful trip.”


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Eric Smith
Eric.Smith@HockeyBuzz.com

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